Before going to the launching at Volumo on Sunday I was asked to preach at Mahula in Hausa so I need to reflect in English on Luke 15:11-32, the parable of the lost son, and/or of the compassionate father. We have come to know this parable as the parable of the Prodigal Son because of the two parables that go before it; the Lost Sheep, and the Lost Coin. These parables are about praise; praises that go on in heaven and the praises of the angels of God because what was lost is found, what was broken is restored. The third parable is what we will concentrate on. There are three major players; the younger son, the father, and the older son. It is a parable that includes; sinfulness, self-righteousness, repentance, forgiveness, compassion, and restoration. In a word this is a story of God’s love extended freely to his broken and fallen creation.
The story is about us! Where are we? As Christians we are restored to God’s fellowship.
We have come home. Before we knew Jesus we wandered aimlessly in a place far away. We came to our senses and accepted the way back to God by believing in and accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Yet, we can again find ourselves in a far away place. Sin, drives us back to that awful place. Like the son in the parable we don’t stop being God’s child, like the father, God is on the lookout for us every day. Like the father, God is ready to receive us back, not as a worker or a slave but as a son and daughter with the full privileges of a child of God. Better yet, Lets stay home!
Maybe that is the case, we stayed home like the older brother, yet things are not right. He is angry about the younger sons return and that his father has accepted him unconditionally. Has not the father also accepted him unconditionally? “You are always with me and all I have is yours” the father tells him. The older son is not able to forgive, he is self-righteous, and he is condemning. Today, many Christians find themselves with the older son’s attitude. According to the parable it is a very bad place to be and he is in danger of being excluded from the reconciliation celebration.
The attitude of the father is the attitude of Christ. Before the prodigal could say one word, before we can do one thing or say one thing God has us in his arms and has already restored us because restoration is accomplished by God’s act in Jesus Christ. God’s compassion is for us difficult to comprehend and impossible to duplicate but that is what this parable is trying to teach us; the un-reconcilable difference between the older son’s and the father’s attitude. If we are to be like Jesus and I believe we are to be insofar as we are able, it is the attitude of the father that we must cultivate and hold onto. The angels will rejoice!
That afternoon a launching was held for the church building at Volumo
Heavenhigh 